The present invention relates to a method and device for taking up toilet paper, especially one without a core.
A conventional toilet paper take-up device is disclosed in Japanese patent application Kokai publication No. 2-193849. In this device, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, a shaft 2 is disposed above a portion where rolls 1A and 1B rotating in a direction shown by an arrow R are provided adjacent to each other.
Wide material paper for toilet paper P is then fed between the shaft 2 and roll 1A as shown by an arrow F, and is taken up around the shaft 2. During this taking-up operation, toilet paper P taken up around the shaft 2 is pressed from above by means of a roll 1C so as to prevent the generation of surface waviness on the toilet paper P. Furthermore, when a taking-up operation of toilet paper P is started, air is sent from between the shaft 2 and roll 1B as shown by an arrow A so that the leading end of the toilet paper P is brought into tight contact with the outer circumferential surface of the shaft 2.
During the taking-up operation, the protruding portions 2A at the ends of the shaft 2 are supported by means of fixing devices 4. As the diameter of toilet paper P that is being taken up around the shaft 2 increases, the contact surface pressure generated between the rolls 1A and 1B on one hand and toilet paper P on the other hand increases. In order to maintain the contact surface pressure at a certain level, cylinders 15 provided at the ends of the shaft 2 are driven so as to raise the fixing devices 4 along guide rails 11.
Thus, the taking-up pressure of toilet paper P is made as uniform as possible by driving the fixing devices 4 so as to prevent the local generation of a too tightly-taken-up state on toilet paper P. In addition, the generation of deflection and warpage of the shaft 2 is prevented also by driving the fixing devices 4 so as to restrain the increase of the aforesaid contact surface pressure.
However, in this conventional device, since the cylinders 15 provided at the ends of the shaft 2 are driven separately, the travelling speeds and distances of the two fixing devices 4 that are caused to rise along the guide rails 11 are not equal to each other exactly. Due to this, the shaft 2 is not accurately maintained parallel with respect to the rolls 1A and 1B.
Therefore, a uniform taking-up pressure for toilet paper P can not be obtained to a sufficient extent, and in the case where the shaft 2 is rotated, for example, at about 300 rpm to 500 rpm, a too-tightly taken-up state tends to easily be generated at one end of the toilet paper P. This causes a draw-back in that toilet paper P may be taken up in a longitudinally deviated or circumferentially eccentric manner with respect to the shaft 2.